Davos 2010: Survey highlights 'crisis of ethics'

More than two thirds of people believe the current economic crisis is also a
crisis of ethics and values, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF)
opinion poll.

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will lead the closing session at Davos.

By Angela Monaghan

9:27PM GMT 18 Jan 2010

The survey, based on 130,000 Facebook members from ten G20 economies, also found that only a quarter of people believe that large, multi-national companies have a "values-driven" approach to their sectors. The proportion rose to 40pc for small and medium-sized businesses. Half of respondents - in France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the US - believed that universal values exist.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF, said the report underlined the need for a set of values which must be applied to global economic institutions. "Our present system fails to meet its obligations to as many as 3bn people in the world. Our civic, business and political cultures must be transformed if we are to close this gap."

He said the WEF's annual summit in Davos next week, which will be attended by many of the world's leading businessmen and politicians, would be a platform to rethink the values underpinning the "global system of cooperation."

When asked to identify which values were most important for the global political and economic system, almost 40pc chose honesty, integrity and transparency, 24pc chose others' rights, dignity and views, 20pc chose the impact of actions on the well-being of others, and 17pc chose the preservation of the environment.

Almost two-thirds of respondents felt that people do not apply the same values in their professional lives as they do in their private lives. When asked whether businesses should be primarily responsible to their shareholders, their employees, their clients and customers, or all three equally, almost half of the respondents chose "all three equally".

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will lead the closing session at Davos and said in response to the WEF report: "We have to ask what an economy would look like if it were genuinely focused on making and sustaining a home – a social environment that offered security for citizens, including those who could not contribute in obvious ways to productive and profit-making business..."